The present invention relates to a viscous, liquid cleaning agent with a scouring action for cleaning acid-resistant, hard surfaces in the household and especially for cleaning glass ceramics.
Cleaners for hard surfaces in the household are necessary, for example, for metals, glass, ceramics, synthetic materials, glass ceramics and the like. Such cleaners can be powdery, pasty or liquid. The liquid products have the advantage that, immediately after application to the surface to be cleaned, they manifest a cleaning ability, insofar as they are intended, for the removal of fat-containing and lime-containing dirt.
A number of liquid products have the deficiency that they are not acid adjusted. Stubborn contaminations, e.g., aged, lime-containing contaminations, especially on glass ceramic cooking plates, can be removed from such products only very unsatisfactorily.
Another disadvantage of liquid cleaners is the absence of abrasively-acting scouring agents which render ineffective the removal of aged lime-containing contaminations which are firmly adhered to surfaces due to the action of temperature.
For better dissolving of fat-containing dirt or for sufficient stability, liquid cleaners can contain more or less large amounts of organic solvents. However, these solvents represent an additional burden on the ecosystem and therefore reduce the suitability of such cleaners.
Liquid cleaners which contain abrasives can also display deficiencies with regard to their storage stability. Various thickening agents, for example polyacrylates, have been suggested for overcoming this deficiency.
More particularly, German Patent No. 28 43 160 describes products which have been rendered acidic with amidosulphonic acid but which cause negative effects on the air in a room and which are also inflammable due to their containing isopropyl alcohol and other organic solvents.
German Patent No. 33 27 926 refers to the use of acids, for example citric acid, amidosulphonic acid and the like or mixtures thereof, in order to adjust the pH to the range of 3 to 3.5. Here, too, organic solvents, such as hydrocarbons, must be employed that have the disadvantages of contaminating the air in the room and inflammability.
European Patent Specification No. 0,216,416, describes a system which utilizes natural minerals, benzyl alcohol and polymeric thickeners. Natural minerals have proved to have a negative effect since they can contain scouring agent components with a high degree of hardness which bring about considerable wear. Amounts of benzyl alcohol are also necessary as a polar solvent.
In all, known cleaning agents have the disadvantage that they do not satisfactorily clean or they damage the surfaces of, for example, glass ceramic cooking plates or, in the case of application to hot cooking plates, attack these chemically.